Declare Jamaat-ud-Dawa a terrorist outfit: India to Security Council

United Nations, Dec 9 (IANS) Taking a tough posture in the wake of the Mumbai terrorist attacks, India Tuesday urged the UN Security Council to declare Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a front of the the Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT), as a terrorist outfit.Jamaat-ud-Dawa is the public name of LeT, which was banned in 2002. India and the US have said that the LeT and its leaders were involved in the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

During the course of a debate at the Security Council on terrorism, Indian Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed also asserted that the country, from where the terrorist attack originated and was planned, should take immediate steps to stop their operations.

“The Jamaat-ud-Dawa and other such organisations need to be proscribed internationally and effective sanctions imposed against them,” Ahamed told the 15-member Security Council, which held a debate on ‘Threats to international peace and security cause by terrorists’.

India in a letter Friday had formally asked the Security Council to declare Jamaat-ud-Dawa as a terrorist outfit. It also demanded that its leader Hafiz Mohammed Saeed be placed under the Security Council list of global terrorists. No other details of the letter was, however, immediately available.

The Nov 26 Mumbai terrorist attacks, which killed at least 172 people including 22 foreigners, dominated the proceedings of this special meeting of the Security Council, wherein member nations not only condemned the heinous attack, but also underlined the need to bring those responsible for it to justice.